1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of making a diamond product by etching, and the diamond product.
2. Related Background Art
Plasma etching, which can remove a large amount of diamond at once and can be carried out relatively easily, has been utilized as a technique for processing diamond. Usually, oxygen gas is used for plasma etching of diamond. Etching with oxygen alone, however, has formed a large number of unnecessary acicular protrusions on the surface of the resulting diamond product, thus failing to smooth the surface. Therefore, attention has been given to a technique in which other gases are introduced into a reaction chamber together with oxygen gas so as to flatten the diamond surface. For example, Hiroshi Shiomi, New Diamond, Vol. 13, No. 4, p. 28 (1997) discloses a technique in which diamond is etched with a plasma of a mixed gas composed of oxygen gas and CF4 gas. This etching technique enables the plasma of CF4 gas to remove the unnecessary acicular protrusions and flatten the surface of diamond product.